Maize in Mexico

Towering tropical maize in our off-season nursery. Working in Mexico allows tropical landraces to fully express their phenotypes, providing key diversity to feed our breeding programs — even in winter.

With the aim of achieving several generations of production in a single year, the experimental maize unit established a corn nursery in November in the city of Nayarit, Mexico.

This allows for faster creation of genetic material for research programs.

The unit is usually located in the southern hemisphere, in Chile. This year, it wanted to produce later-ripening genetic material, which is why Mexico was chosen. The tropical climate shortens the production cycle.

Carine Palaffre and Cyril Bauland, the two off-season production managers, visited the site in February and conducted the scoring and screening. 

Pollination is an essential mechanism for the reproduction of maize lines. This process involves transferring pollen from the male reproductive system of flowers to the female organ of the plant.